Month: April 2016

Previous NBA player and University of Connecticut star Tate George was sentenced Thursday to nine years in jail for running a true estate Ponzi scheme.

A federal decide in Trenton also ordered George to spend $two.5 million in restitution and serve a few several years of supervised release.

George was convicted more than two a long time ago on 4 wire fraud counts. His victims incorporated existing NBA participant Charlie Villanueva, previous player Brevin Knight and “The Apprentice” winner Randal Pinkett. They lost a number of hundred thousand dollars entirely, prosecutors said.

On the last day of a sentencing procedure that spanned many days beginning in December, George argued for much more than an hour and a 50 % for leniency while sustaining his innocence.

He did not provide an apology, but alternatively continued to say he was a properly-intentioned businessman whose true estate projects and investments unexpectedly fell by way of. He repeated that his ventures had been even now alive and the income even now out there but outside of his grasp in jail.

“For the umpteenth time, I am sorry — I am sorry the initiatives acquired delayed,” he said.

He also blamed prosecutors for withholding proof that he stated would enable him to demonstrate his innocence.

“I never slumber at night time,” he added. “I am begging to go to the law library (in jail) to get the data out.”

The U.S. attorney’s office mentioned George persuaded victims to spend in true estate options by lying about his firm’s assets and initiatives, then took their funds and utilised it for private costs and to shell out off earlier buyers.

George, a 6-foot-5 guard, performed for the NBA’s New Jersey Nets and Milwaukee Bucks. The Newark indigenous is greatest remembered for a buzzer-beating shot for UConn in a 1990 NCAA match recreation in opposition to Clemson.

Assistant U.S. Legal professional Zach Intrater pleaded with U.S. District Choose Mary Cooper to lock George up for as prolonged as achievable to shield modern society. Federal tips known as for a sentencing range of about seven many years to nine years.

“There was a expressing about Michael Jordan that you couldn’t quit him — you could only incorporate him,” Intrater explained. “I submit your honor that is just Tate George. … You know that he will commit far more crimes.”

Intrater mentioned George had everything likely for him: a full experience to UConn, a very first-round NBA draft select and the charisma to make enterprise connections and draw investors.

The prosecutor claimed George’s crimes are the “monstrous end result of our culture’s elevation and celebration of professional athletics.”

A Chicago jury previous yr awarded Michael Jordan $nine million right after grocery chain Dominick’s utilised his likeness to hawk steaks. Now another planet-famous athlete will appear to Chicago to get paid for what is becoming known as an uncompensated endorsement.

Soccer icon Pelé has sued Samsung in federal courtroom in Chicago, declaring the electronics large utilised a seem-alike in a total-website page advert for high-definition televisions that appeared in the New York Moments.

Pelé, or fairly a business that licenses the soccer star’s picture, has employed the very same Chicago firm that represented Jordan. The lawsuit picked the federal courtroom in Chicago as the location, although the advertisement appeared in Times editions throughout the U.S., and Pele is a Brazilian citizen suing a South Korean corporation.

Samsung seemingly felt there was price to Pelé’s endorsement: the lawsuit notes that two many years just before the advert featuring the purported search-alike Pelé was revealed, Samsung experienced engaged in negotiations with Pelé in excess of a prepare to employ the soccer star to endorse Samsung goods, but the organization pulled out “at the previous moment.”

In Jordan’s situation, Dominick’s and parent organization Safeway utilised Jordan’s complete title and jersey number in a 2009 advert published in Athletics Illustrated that commemorated Jordan’s induction into the Basketball Corridor of Fame. The Jordan ad featured a more overt reference than in Pelé’s look-alike claim, mentioned Andrew Zimbalist, a sporting activities economist who testified at Jordan’s trial.

And much more important to how significantly Pelé may possibly get in damages is a calculation of how much he usually acquired from endorsement deals, Zimbalist mentioned.

“I really don’t consider there’s any individual out there who can command the identical level of payment as Jordan,” Zimbalist mentioned. “He’s in a class by himself.”

Samsung associates did not react to requests for comment Monday.

Few athletes in the globe have Jordan’s worldwide attractiveness, but the 75-12 months-aged Pelé, is deemed by a lot of the biggest soccer participant ever to play the world’s most popular sport. The Brazil indigenous, whose entire name is Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, was named Athlete of the Century by the Intercontinental Olympic Committee in 1999. He holds the international document for most objectives scored in a career, although he is now virtually forty several years eliminated from his last skilled match.

Nevertheless, Pelé raked in $25 million from endorsements in 2014, when Brazil hosted the soccer’s Globe Cup, in accordance Bloomberg Enterprise. 1 sponsor that calendar year sold a $19,000 watch with an impression of Pelé producing a bicycle kick. The price of Pelé’s great title might increase nonetheless increased this year, when Rio De Janiero hosts the Olympic Online games, and his life tale is manufactured into a motion picture by Ron Howard’s movie organization.

“The goal is to get honest payment for the unauthorized use of Pele’s id and to prevent long term unauthorized utilizes,” said legal professional Fredrick Sperling, who also represented Jordan in his 2015 demo.

The 2015 advertisement at the coronary heart of lawsuit displays portion of the smiling experience of an older, black gentleman “who extremely intently resembles Pelé” beside an picture of Samsung television monitor, on which a soccer player is noticed “making a modified bicycle or scissors-kick, perfected and famously used by Pelé.”

Artemi Panarin conquer Marc-Andre Fleury 3:forty seven into extra time to elevate the Chicago Blackhawks to a three-two victory in excess of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night time.

Panarin concluded with two objectives, which includes the winner off a feed from Patrick Kane as Chicago fended off resilient Pittsburgh, which rallied from a two- deficit in the third time period driving objectives from Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang.

Chicago appeared to be firmly in handle going into the third and managed to enhance to 17–1 when leading after two, but it was not simple.

Crosby gave Pittsburgh life when he ripped a wrist shot by Crawford’s blocker 5:fifty four into the 3rd. He virtually additional yet another after the ensuing faceoff only to have his shot beat Crawford but strike the put up.

Jonathan Toews acquired his 14th aim of the year for Chicago. Kane completed with two helps to increase his level whole to an NHL-greatest fifty nine. Corey Crawford created 34 will save for the Blackhawks, who have won four straight.

Crosby scored his twelfth of the time and sixth in six online games to start Pittsburgh’s comeback. Letang additional his fourth with a shot from the point with two:fifty to enjoy to power extra time. Fleury stopped 27 shots in the very first match of a house-and-residence with the defending Stanley Cup champions.

There are no such worries in Chicago, which would seem to have averted any form of letdown following a third Stanley Cup in five many years very last spring. The Blackhawks are the dynasty Pittsburgh envisioned it would turn into when Crosby and Malkin raised the Cup in 2009. 6-in addition years later the Penguins are even now ready to bookend that superb operate even though Chicago chugs proper together behind Kane, Toews and a fashion of perform that seems to translate irrespective of the opponent.

Sullivan has put in his very first number of months on the job regularly telling his players to get them selves and the puck to the internet, preferably in that get. The proof his message is beginning to seep in arrived throughout wins more than Detroit and the New York Islanders very last week, which included a extend in which the Penguins scored 10 straight goals.

Nevertheless old routines are difficult to shake. Pittsburgh even now has a inclination to overpass. Chris Kunitz opted from a vast open up shot from the remaining circle in the first period in favor of striving to thread something throughout the ice to a single of his teammates. It was tipped out of harm’s way.

Pittsburgh’s best sustained strain arrived midway by way of the 2nd but couldn’t sneak everything by Crawford and Chicago countered with a 2-on-one amongst Kane and Panarin that ended with Panarin burying a 1-timer off a feed from Kane to put the Blackhawks up 8:forty seven into the 2nd.

Chicago doubled the lead late in the next when Brent Seabrook banged a shot from the correct circle off of Toews in front of the net with 1:14 to go only to see the gain disappear throughout arguably Pittsburgh’s ideal period of time of the time.

Letang finally tied it with considerably less than three minutes remaining when his blind shot from the stage emerged from a sea of jerseys to slip by Crawford’s glove.

It established the phase for a dazzling back again-and-forth extra time period, with the three-on-three structure generating extensive swathes of open up ice for two of the league’s most skilled groups. They traded chances — with Fleury producing a doorstep end on Marian Hossa on 1 conclude and Crawford denying Phil Kessel two times at the other — prior to Kane set up Panarin for his 13th of the calendar year.

The Penguins earned at the very least a single level for the sixth time in their previous 7 online games and look to be figuring factors out beneath Mike Sullivan, their when-sleepy offense obtaining a require jolt from its stars and a rejuvenated energy engage in that was converting almost forty p.c of its options considering that Dec. 19.

Still, Pittsburgh came in on the exterior of the playoffs hunting, not precisely the location the Penguins and their cap-strapped roster built to get now — right now — want to be nearing the season’s halfway point.

Even individuals NFL coaches who are, in idea, the extremely very best all around have been creating some conclusions this postseason that manufactured folks jump up from their couches and scream “Why?!”

Ron Rivera of the Carolina Panthers and Gary Kubiak of the Denver Broncos surely hope to avoid that in the Super Bowl.

Then again, given the way they have managed things so significantly this time, there is minor purpose to suspect they’re going to make a unforgettable gaffe on the sport’s most critical phase subsequent weekend.

Kubiak is only the seventh coach to go to the large game in his 1st time with a team, managing the “Ought to the QB be an ineffective Peyton Manning or an inexperienced Brock Osweiler?” scenario with aplomb for months.

Rivera, who some considered was near to currently being fired not as well lengthy ago, has pulled all the proper strings in guiding the Panthers to a seventeen-one report and part of favored on Super Sunday.

“When you’ve got only missing a single game, you happen to be almost certainly generating some rather very good decisions,” previous NFL participant and head mentor Herm Edwards explained with a chuckle. “If you win the game, you are not likely to be second-guessed as a lot.”

Makes sense. But get a glance at social media during any NFL playoff recreation, and there is loads of questioning of coaching going on.

It truly is transpired in excess of and more than, even from the likes of the sport’s universally acknowledged “genius,” Invoice Belichick, whose New England Patriots dropped to Kubiak’s Broncos twenty-eighteen in the AFC championship sport. Belichick drew his share of criticism for passing up subject-objective options in the fourth quarter and as an alternative permitting Tom Brady and the offense go for it on fourth down — and failing.

“You search at that circumstance and you go, ‘Well, Alright, if you kicked the (earlier) 1, then he probably would have gained the recreation.’ That is simple to say following the truth,” Edwards mentioned. “But he set the ball in the hands of his very best player, and in that recreation, I think he just felt: ‘Got ’em on the ropes correct now, we’re heading to consider to make it.'”

There certain is much more temptation for hindsight when the final consequence will not go a coach’s way, of training course.

Kansas City Chiefs mentor Andy Reid was lambasted for overseeing a gradual-as-molasses offense that fundamentally gave alone no likelihood to erase a fourth-quarter deficit in a 27-20 loss to the Patriots in the divisional round.

An additional instance arrived correct at the start of the postseason, when the Houston Texans have been even now dealing with only a surmountable deficit in what would turn out to be a 30- wild-card loss to these Chiefs.

Down close to the stop zone, Invoice O’Brien’s club sent in J.J. Watt for a wildcat development, with Vince Wilfork blocking, and the operate perform acquired stuffed. On the up coming engage in, the Chiefs intercepted Brian Hoyer, and that was that.

Then there was Arizona Cardinals mentor Bruce Arians’ choice to enjoy a include-zero protection and deliver an all-out blitz on the very last perform of regulation in opposition to the Eco-friendly Bay Packers as everyone knows, Aaron Rodgers took benefit of that method by throwing a desperation move for a tying touchdown. At the very least Arians’ team gained 26-20 in extra time.

Clock management, timeout use, no matter whether to attempt to operate the ball late whilst foremost to drain time off the clock as an alternative of jeopardizing stopping it with an incomplete move — all of those types of decisions go into coaching a winning crew.

And all can give rise to undesirable-mouthing.

“That is component of the game. Element of the work. Absolutely everyone has an view,” said Edwards, who created a whole of 4 excursions to the playoffs during stints coaching the New York Jets and the Chiefs from 2001-08.

“You do not get caught up as a lot in that as a coach. As that game’s being played out, you determine out what your strengths are when you have to make choices. You will not count on what folks believe you ought to do, and the gamers comprehend that. They trust you.”

Other than what could have been a disastrous 2nd fifty percent in the divisional round towards the Seattle Seahawks, when a 31- halftime direct dwindled to 31-24, Rivera has typically averted getting referred to as out for sideline errors.

And Kubiak receives credit rating for overseeing a group that has gained eleven of its fourteen online games this period that had been decided by seven or fewer factors.

“You will find a purpose to every little thing he does, and there’s a cause to almost everything he does. He just doesn’t do items to do issues,” mentioned John Elway, Kubiak’s manager with the Broncos. “And as a participant, you regard that, and I revered that. That, to me, is why he is been productive.”

He had to crack a few jokes to help fight back the tears at his retirement news conference Monday, when the words didn’t always come as easy as the emotions.

His voice cracking, especially when he mentioned his hero, Johnny Unitas, Manning said goodbye to the game he loved in an auditorium packed with friends, family and laughter.

Manning, who turns 40 this month, said the timing was simply right to call one last audible one month after winning his second Super Bowl trophy.

Aside from that, it’s anybody’s guess.

“When I look back on my NFL career, I’ll know without a doubt that I gave everything I had to help my teams walk away with a win,” Manning said. “There were other players who were more talented, but there was no one could out-prepare me, and because of that I have no regrets.”

Elway thanked Manning for coming to Colorado, saying he made his own job easier, noting that with Manning living here, free agents were basically asking Elway “where do I sign?”

It was through the eyes of a former QB and not those of a GM that Elway really enjoyed watching Manning, however.

“Peyton Manning revolutionized the game,” Elway said. “We all used to think a no-huddle was a fast pace, get to the line of scrimmage and get people off-balance. Peyton revolutionized it, and you know what, we’re going to get to the line of scrimmage, take our time, I’m going to find out what you’re doing and then I’m going to pick you apart.

“I can’t tell you how many times I said, ‘Dang, why didn’t we think of that?'”

Manning went 50-15 in Denver, leading the Broncos to four AFC West titles, two Super Bowl trips, one championship, and in 2013 guided the highest-scoring offense in league history. All after retraining himself to throw following a series of neck fusion surgeries forced him to miss the 2011 season and he was cut by the Colts.
Former Colorado Rockies slugger Todd Helton, Manning’s teammate at Tennessee in the 1990s, once told the story about how Manning’s right arm was so shot after his neck operations that he thought Peyton was goofing around when he threw a football and it fluttered like a wounded duck.

“He had nothing,” Helton recounted. “But I knew he’d come back and be Peyton Manning again because nobody else works that hard.”

Manning revealed last summer he still had no feeling in the fingertips of his right hand, and yet he threw 140 of his NFL-best 539 TD passes for the Broncos, including a record 55 in 2013.

Team president Joe Ellis told Manning, “If there is a list of achievements needed to attain greatness, you’ve checked every box.”
Elway was equally emotional when he walked away from the game after winning his second championship in 1999, and on Monday he said, “Having been through it, I know it’s a hard day for him.”

The Cowboys have lost six straight games, and part of Bryant’s outburst was about the media “disrespecting this team.”

“Dez shouldn’t be in that situation,” Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said. “If someone’s going to incite him, just remove yourself from the situation.”

In a Friday news conference, Garrett said the coaches will use the incident as an opportunity to improve and stay focused on football.

“We have to understand the world we live in and handle ourselves better,” he said.

Indeed, Manning choked up several times, especially when he listed all the things he’d miss about football: deciphering defenses; the flights home after a big win; his teammates.

During the Chicago Blackhawks’ game against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night, team captain Jonathan Toews reached a very special milestone that no Hawks player has reached in 15 years.

With his first period goal, Toews became Blackhawks player to reach 250 goals with the organization since Tony Amonte reached that milestone in 2001 . The goal, a shorthanded tally in the first period, puts Toews just two goals behind Kenny Wharram for ninth place on the team’s all-time scoring list.

Things got off to a sluggish start for both teams, but the Blackhawks were able to draw first blood in the contest. Following a mad netfront scramble, Richard Panik found a loose puck and was able to quickly fire a wrist shot past Louis Domingue to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

Despite the closeness of the race between Toews and Kane, the captain is closing in on some noteworthy names on the team’s all-time list. He is currently just eight goals behind Bill Moisenko for eighth on the list, and he trails Jeremy Roenick by 17 tallies. Tony Amonte is 18 clear of Toews, and Dennis Hull is 48 up, so the Blackhawks’ captain could make some serious progress on the list in the next year or two.

Only the 10 Thursday games on CBS and NBC will be streamed through Twitter under a one-year agreement, the NFL announced Tuesday. They will be free worldwide on all devices through the Twitter platform. Viewers will not need to be registered Twitter users.

Blair Walsh’s 27-yard field goal try into the frigid wind hooked left with 22 seconds remaining, handing the Seahawks a 10-9 victory over the stunned Vikings on a Sunday afternoon in their wild-card round playoff game in below-zero weather that tied for the third-coldest NFL game on record.

The Seahawks (11-6) didn’t score until Russell Wilson’s short touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin early in the fourth quarter, and a fumble by Adrian Peterson for the Vikings on the next possession set up a field goal by Steven Hauschka.

The Vikings (11-6) took the ball back with 1:42 left at their 39 and, aided by a pass interference penalty on Kam Chancellor, drove deep into Seattle’s territory. After draining the clock for the seemingly inevitable win, Walsh missed the winner. He made all three of his earlier attempts.

Seattle will play next weekend at Carolina, where the Panthers had a first-round bye in balmy mid-50s weather.

Huddled around sideline heaters and wearing huge capes, the Seahawks sideline on the shaded side of the stadium was a largely lethargic place for much of the game. Trailing 9-0, Wilson nearly took a huge loss on first down when he fumbled a shotgun snap. But the quarterback who Vikings coach Mike Zimmer called “Houdini” during the week darted right and found Tyler Lockett wide open for a 35-yard completion to set up the score to Baldwin.

Chancellor, who ripped the ball away from Peterson, quickly became the goat after his penalty and subsequent missed tackle on tight end Kyle Rudolph’s 24-yard reception to the 18. But Chancellor and all of his “Legion of Boom” buddies were amazingly celebrating a few seconds later after Walsh’s miss.

Replays showed the laces on the ball were turned in — instead of facing out — by holder Jeff Locke.

The Seahawks left their last visit to Minnesota with a 38-7 victory, pure domination on both sides of the ball that left no doubt that Dec. 6 afternoon they’d be a legitimate contender to reach their third straight Super Bowl even without the ear-splitting advantage of their home by the bay at CenturyLink Field.

For all their skills, experience and swagger, though, the combination of these conditions and a well-prepared, embarrassed-by-the-previous-performance Vikings team proved to be quite the challenge for the Seahawks.

This was a fittingly frigid finish for Minnesota’s two-year stint outdoors at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium during construction of the new covered downtown stadium. For the first au naturel postseason game here since the NFC championship game in 1976, the grizzled coach of that team, Bud Grant, served as an honorary captain. He strolled out for the coin flip in a Vikings cap and a purple short-sleeved polo shirt, looking ready for a round of golf.

The 88-year-old Grant got a roar of approval from the crowd, most of which was dressed in as many layers as those purple replica jerseys would allow. The announcement of the minus-25 degree wind-chill factor a few minutes later drew an equally loud cheer.

Every mistake and break was magnified in a game like this, and the Vikings were the benefactors for the majority of the first three quarters.

Punter Jon Ryan had to pick up a low snap on Seattle’s first possession and, avoiding a potential block, tried to run up the middle before being upended by Jason Trusnik well shy of the first down. Ryan landed on his face, bloodying his nose, and the Vikings turned the shortened field into their first field goal.

Wilson, who led the NFL in passer rating after racking up a remarkable 24 touchdown passes with only one interception over the last seven games, was essentially reduced to a scrambler in the deep freeze. He had to run around a lot, too, against a relentless defense that was missing three key players in the previous matchup but back to full strength for this one.

The Seahawks, who scored 30-plus points in six of their last seven games, were all out of sorts on offense, with trouble getting some of the plays off in time.

Facing the wind in the second quarter, Wilson had Baldwin wide open behind the safeties at the goal line, but the ball hung in the air and was easily batted down. Headed the same direction toward the open end of the stadium in the third quarter, Wilson overthrew Chase Coffman, and Trae Waynes intercepted the deflected pass to set the Vikings up for another field goal. Cliff Avril’s roughing-the-passer penalty gifted Minnesota 15 yards on that drive.